1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to metallic transporting appliances which reduce the amount of wood used in currently very popular wooden pallets for transportation usage, and therefore preserve natural resources.
2) Description of the Related Art
Of the conventional metallic transporting appliances of this type, pallets, such as flat pallets, skids or box pallets, made of wood are popular because they are easily scrapped and inexpensive to manufacture. The wooden pallets are also less expensive and lighter than metallic or plastic pallets. The wood for the pallets need not be of very high quality; that is, thin material such as lauan and larch may be used.
The wood used in the conventional transporting pallet appliances is in short supply in Japan, and a regular large demand even of thin material cannot be met fully, so that the manufacturers are currently dependent on importing such material. In this respect, metallic and plastic pallets have still been produced. The former pallets are assembled by arc welding on thick steel plates or by fastening by bolts. The latter are produced by a large injection molding machine using a large amount of molding material, making the cost significantly high. In addition, users are likely to have trouble in discarding the plastic pallets.